If you have been appointed administrator of a California estate, you can sell the estate's house once the court has issued your letters. How you sell depends on the authority the court granted. With full authority under the Independent Administration of Estates Act, a sale can go forward by notice to heirs. Otherwise, a judge must confirm it.
California property guideUpdated October 17, 2026General information, not legal or tax advice
Most people facing this role did not expect it. A parent or sibling died without a will, the family agreed someone had to step forward, and now that person holds court papers, a house full of memories, and relatives asking when it will sell and what each of them will receive. The questions come quickly. Do the others have to sign? Does a judge have to approve the price? What happens if a brother objects? This page walks through how an administrator's authority to sell California real estate works, step by step, and says plainly where the answer depends on the estate's facts.
What an Administrator Is and Where the Authority to Sell Comes From
An administrator is the person a California probate court appoints to run an estate when the person who died left no will. Under Probate Code section 8460, "If the decedent dies intestate, the court shall appoint an administrator as personal representative," and the court may appoint more than one person. "Intestate" means without a will.
Personal representative is the Probate Code's umbrella term for whoever the court appoints to administer an estate, whether an executor or an administrator. An executor is the person named in a will to do this job. The Judicial Council's letters form also covers an "administrator with will annexed," a person appointed when there is a will but the court appoints someone other than a named executor. This page focuses on the administrator. A trustee or successor trustee is different again: that person manages property held in a trust, which is not part of the probate estate at all. A house that passed by a transfer on death deed is different too; under Probate Code section 5652, that deed transfers the owner's interest to the named beneficiary at death.
Who gets appointed follows an order of priority set by Probate Code section 8461: a surviving spouse or domestic partner first, then children, grandchildren, other issue, parents, and brothers and sisters, with the list continuing through more distant relatives, the public administrator, creditors and any other person.
Authority to sell does not come from family agreement. It comes from the court. Probate Code section 8400 says a person has no power to administer the estate until appointed, and that the appointment "becomes effective when the person appointed is issued letters." Letters of administration are the court document proving that authority. The scope of authority to sell real property, meaning land and buildings, is then set by what the court grants under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. Personal property, such as furniture, cars and bank accounts, follows separate sale rules.
Opening Probate: The Steps Before Any Sale Can Happen
The path to a sale begins with a petition to open probate in the superior court of the county where the estate may be administered. The California Courts' Guide to property after someone dies explains that to start a probate case, "you go to court and ask a judge to appoint a personal representative," who "collects all the property of the person that died, pays their bills, and then distributes any remaining property" to the heirs or beneficiaries.
Once the judge signs the order, the clerk issues letters. The order itself carries a warning in capital letters that the appointment is not effective until letters have issued, under Probate Code section 8400. The Judicial Council's DE-150 Letters (Probate) form shows the boxes that matter for a sale: whether the personal representative is authorized under the Independent Administration of Estates Act, and if so, "with full authority" or "with limited authority."
Next comes valuation. A probate referee is a court-appointed appraiser who values estate assets. The Judicial Council's DE-147 Duties and Liabilities of Personal Representative statement says the personal representative must arrange for a court-appointed referee to determine the value of the property unless the court waives the appointment, and must file an inventory and appraisal "Within four months after Letters are first issued." The inventory and appraisal is the formal list of estate assets and their values. DE-147 adds that, when filing it, the personal representative must also file a change of ownership statement with the county recorder or assessor in each county where the decedent owned real property. The referee's value matters later for basis, covered in the tax section below.
Some estates never need an administrator. California's simplified procedures include the petition to determine succession to the decedent's primary residence, which under Probate Code section 13151 can be filed once 40 days have passed since the death, without letters, where the home's value is within a limit adjusted periodically. Another is the affidavit for real property of small value, which under Probate Code section 13200 can be filed no sooner than six months from the death, with a referee's appraisal attached. Both have value limits that change over time. The county's Superior Court or a probate attorney can confirm the current figure.
The Independent Administration of Estates Act: Selling Without Court Confirmation
For an administrator, the Independent Administration of Estates Act decides how much of the sale happens outside a courtroom. The Act is California law that lets a personal representative take many actions, including selling real property, without returning to court for approval, if the court granted that authority.
The two levels of authority differ on exactly this point. Probate Code section 10403 defines "limited authority" as all the Act's powers except the power to sell real property, exchange real property, grant an option to purchase real property, or borrow money secured by real property. An administrator with limited authority therefore sells the house through court confirmation. Full authority includes the power to sell.
With full authority, the sale runs on a notice of proposed action. That is a written notice the personal representative gives to the heirs and other interested persons describing the planned sale before it happens. The Probate Code sets the notice period and how it is given. An heir who objects in writing within that period can require the administrator to seek court confirmation instead.
When the sale goes forward under full authority, Probate Code section 10503 lets the personal representative sell at public auction or private sale, with or without notice, on terms the personal representative determines, and under that section the court-confirmation requirements, such as published notice of sale, court approval of agents' and brokers' commissions, the appraised-value rule and the court's examination of the sale, do not apply to a sale made with that authority.
So whether a judge must confirm the sale depends on two facts in the same estate: what authority the court granted, and whether anyone objected in writing to the notice of proposed action. If the court granted no authority to sell under the Act, or an heir objects in time, the sale follows the court-confirmation process. The steps of a probate sale are traced more fully in this site's guide to selling inherited property during probate.
Court-Confirmed Sales: How the Process Works When Confirmation Is Required
Court confirmation means a judge reviews the sale and approves it at a hearing before the buyer receives title. Probate Code section 10308 states the rule: except as provided in Probate Code section 10503, "all sales of real property shall be reported to and be confirmed by the court before title to the property passes to the purchaser," whether by private sale or auction, and even if the will directs or authorizes the sale. If the personal representative does not file the report and petition for confirmation within 30 days after the sale, the buyer may file them. Notice of the hearing is given to the persons the Probate Code designates and to the buyers named in the petition, and is posted.
In practice, the sale usually unfolds in a familiar order. A licensed real estate agent often markets the house, with the administrator signing the listing agreement for the estate. The administrator accepts an offer subject to court confirmation. A confirmation sale generally involves published notice of sale. The price must bear a relationship to the probate referee's appraised value that the Probate Code sets, and the appraisal must be recent enough under rules the Code also sets.
At the hearing, the judge examines the sale and approves the agents' commissions. Other buyers may appear and bid more than the accepted offer, a step called overbidding, and the court may confirm the sale to the highest qualified bidder. The Probate Code fixes how much higher an opening overbid must be. A probate attorney can apply the exact figures to a particular estate.
Compared with a full-authority sale, this path adds a public hearing, court scheduling and the chance that the buyer who signed first is not the buyer who closes. For a family waiting on a distant house, that uncertainty is often the hardest part.
What Heirs Can and Cannot Do When an Administrator Wants to Sell
Heirs are the people entitled to inherit when there is no will, and they do not hold a general veto over a sale. Once letters issue and the court grants authority to sell, the administrator, not the family as a group, has the legal power to sign for the estate. The California Courts guide does say that "Two or more people can represent an estate together. But they must act always act together," so where the court appointed co-administrators, each of them is part of the decision.
The main check an heir has under full authority is the notice of proposed action. A written objection within the notice period requires the administrator to seek court confirmation, which moves the decision to a judge rather than stopping it. In a confirmation sale, interested persons may attend the hearing, and a qualified buyer, including a family member, may submit an overbid.
Many siblings worry about a quieter question: can the administrator simply buy the house? An administrator owes a fiduciary duty, meaning a legal duty to act in the best interest of the estate and those who inherit from it rather than in their own interest. That duty includes loyalty. A sale of estate property to the administrator personally is generally treated as self-dealing, and it generally requires court approval with full disclosure to the heirs. The estate's attorney can say what the court requires in a particular case.
Where heirs are in real conflict, or someone believes the administrator is acting improperly, the matter becomes a contested one. That is a different subject, handled by an attorney who litigates trust and probate cases.
How the Property Is Sold: Listing, Offers, and Closing
The administrator signs every document on the estate's side: the listing agreement or purchase contract, the escrow instructions and, at closing, the grant deed. A grant deed is the deed that transfers title from the estate to the buyer. Escrow, held by a neutral third party, closes after the contract's conditions are met and, where court confirmation is required, after the judge confirms the sale.
Three sale paths are open, each with tradeoffs.
A listing with a licensed real estate agent. The house is exposed to the open market, which can bring competing offers. It also usually brings commissions, preparation, showings and dependence on the buyer's loan approval.
A sale by the administrator without an agent. It avoids a listing commission. The administrator then carries the pricing, marketing, paperwork and buyer screening personally.
A direct sale to a buyer who pays cash and takes the house in its present condition. A direct offer is often lower than what the open market might bring, because the buyer is taking on the repairs, the risk and the cost of reselling. In return, the estate gets less preparation, fewer showings and less dependence on a buyer's financing. A reader can get an offer from Silver Lining Inherited Property for a direct as-is sale, and asking for one carries no obligation to sell.
Whichever path is chosen, the estate's authority, any required notice of proposed action and any court confirmation are the same, whoever the buyer is. Families usually tell which path fits by comparing written offers and estimated net proceeds: the price less commissions, repairs, carrying costs, loan payoffs and closing costs. The tradeoffs between a cash offer and a listing are compared in more detail elsewhere on this site.
A house can be sold in its present condition, and selling a house that needs repairs raises its own questions. On disclosures, Civil Code section 1102.2 says the article containing California's transfer disclosure rules does not apply to several kinds of transfer, including sales pursuant to court order, such as "sales ordered by a probate court in the administration of an estate," and "Sales or transfers by a fiduciary in the course of the administration of a trust, guardianship, conservatorship, or decedent's estate." The estate's attorney or a real estate attorney can review which other disclosure duties still apply to the sale.
Stepped-Up Basis and Property Tax Considerations for the Estate
Two different taxes come up when an administrator sells: federal income tax on any gain, and California property tax. They follow separate rules.
Basis is the starting value used to measure gain on a sale. Under 26 U.S.C. § 1014(a), the basis of property acquired from a decedent is generally "the fair market value of the property at the date of the decedent's death," or, depending on elections and circumstances the statute names, the value at an alternate valuation date, a value determined under a special-use valuation rule, or, to the extent a particular estate-tax exclusion applies, the decedent's own basis. This is often called a stepped-up basis. The probate referee's inventory and appraisal typically supplies the date-of-death value. In general, gain on the estate's sale is measured from that basis, not from what the decedent originally paid. Whether a particular sale produces taxable gain depends on the facts, and a CPA, an enrolled agent or a tax attorney reviews the income tax and basis question for the estate.
Property tax is a separate matter. When real property changes hands at death, California rules decide whether the county reassesses it to current value. For transfers on or after February 16, 2021, Rev. & Tax. Code section 63.2, the provision adopted after Proposition 19, excludes certain transfers of a principal residence between parents and children, and between grandparents and grandchildren where the grandchild's parents who are the grandparents' children have died. The conditions include that the home becomes the child's principal residence within one year of the transfer, that a homeowners' or disabled veterans' exemption is filed within a year, and a value limit that can make part of the value taxable. A claim must be filed with the assessor within three years after the transfer, or before the property is transferred to a third party, or before an eligible transferee stops living in the home, whichever is earlier, though a claim filed within six months after a notice of supplemental or escape assessment is treated as timely.
When the estate sells the house to an outside buyer rather than distributing it to a child who moves in, the exclusion question is typically moot. The county assessor's office handles reassessment and exclusion claims and publishes the current figures.
Administrator Compensation and the Timeline for Closing an Estate
An administrator is entitled to be paid for the work. California's Probate Code sets a statutory compensation schedule for personal representatives, calculated as percentages of the value of the estate as the statute measures it. A probate attorney can apply that schedule to a specific estate. The court may also allow extraordinary compensation for work beyond ordinary administration, such as handling a sale of real property in complicated circumstances. DE-147 adds a practical limit: "Without prior order of the court, you may not pay fees to yourself or to your attorney."
Many administrators also ask how long they have to finish. California probate has no single fixed deadline for closing an estate or selling a house. Several dates do run from the start, though. DE-147 says the personal representative must mail a notice of administration to each known creditor "within four months after your appointment," and, if the decedent received Medi-Cal assistance, must notify the State Director of Health Services within 90 days after appointment. Creditors then have a period set by the Probate Code to file claims, and distribution generally waits until that period has run and the claims are resolved.
Beyond those dates, the length of an estate depends on the assets, any disputes, creditor claims, whether a sale needs court confirmation, and the court's calendar. Meanwhile the house keeps costing money: property taxes, insurance, utilities and upkeep. DE-147 says the personal representative should keep adequate insurance in force "during the entire period of the administration." Those carrying costs are one reason many administrators decide to sell the real property without long delay, once the authority to do so is in place.
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You Don’t Have to Work This Out Alone
If you’re dealing with selling estate property as the administrator, we’re here to talk it through.
Every inherited property is different. Call or send us a message, and we’ll listen. A direct offer is often lower than what the open market might bring, and asking for one does not commit you to selling.
What percentage of an estate does the administrator get paid?
California's Probate Code sets a statutory schedule of percentages based on the value of the estate, plus possible extraordinary compensation for unusual work. The administrator generally cannot pay that compensation from the estate without a prior court order. A probate attorney can apply the schedule to a specific estate.
How long does an administrator have to settle an estate?
There is no single fixed deadline. Certain early steps carry dates, such as the inventory and appraisal and the creditor notices described above. The overall length depends on the assets, creditor claims, any disputes, whether a sale needs court confirmation, and the court's schedule.
Can an administrator sell property to himself?
Generally not on his own say-so. An administrator owes the estate a fiduciary duty of loyalty, and a sale of estate property to the administrator personally is generally treated as self-dealing that requires court approval with full disclosure to the heirs. The estate's attorney can explain what the court requires.
Do all heirs have to agree to sell estate property?
No, not as a general rule. Once letters issue and the court grants authority to sell, the administrator signs for the estate. Under full authority, an heir who objects in writing to a notice of proposed action within the notice period can require court confirmation, but that moves the decision to a judge rather than vetoing it.
Can an administrator sell a house without probate?
An administrator is appointed by the probate court, so an administrator's sale is part of probate. Some smaller estates can instead use the petition to determine succession to the decedent's primary residence or the affidavit for real property of small value, which do not require letters. Their value limits change, and the county Superior Court can confirm them.
Can an administrator sell property below market value?
The administrator must act in the estate's best interest. In a court-confirmed sale, the Probate Code ties the price to the referee's appraised value and allows overbids at the hearing. Under full authority, heirs who think a price is too low can object to the notice of proposed action.
Can an administrator withdraw money from an estate account?
Only for proper estate purposes. DE-147 says estate funds must be kept separate from anyone else's, that the personal representative should not spend estate money without court permission or an attorney's advice, and that fees to oneself require a prior court order. The court reviews the administrator's accounts.
